Seattle traffic news including Seattle traffic maps and traffic cams, WSDOT news, Seattle bus and public transportation updates and more

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..

Light rail accident shows need for better communication

Sound Transit is working to improve how it communicates to passengers about lengthy service delays caused by things such as last week’s light rail collision with an illegally-turning pickup, according to this report in The Seattle Times.

Last Tuesday, a pickup illegally turned left at Martin Luther King Jr. Way and South Dawson Street and was struck. It became wedged between the train and a guardrail and it took about three hours to remove it. In the meantime, many riders affected by the delay were left in the dark.

Below is an excerpt from Mike Lindblom’s story with remarks from Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl:

It was the worst incident so far on the year-old line in terms of delaying passengers, and points to ongoing issues with how Sound Transit reacts to delays. When a train derailed in November, for example, service restarted in about an hour, but riders at nearby stations said they weren’t told what was happening.

Sound Transit CEO Joni Earl said the agency failed to give timely information to people using its trains.

“We did not have a good customer response. I’m not proud of it,” she said before Thursday’s transit-board meeting. “It was not a good day for us.”

Lindblom also reports that local transit agencies just started training a new employee to focus solely on customer updates. The person “will be a ‘bridge’ between the Link train-control center and the bus-control center, each operated by Metro in the same building in the Sodo neighborhood,” according to the story.

Unfortunately for Sound Transit, Tuesday’s collision happened while transit officials from around the country were in town for large conference. Some were riding the light rail when the collision happened.

Bill Millar, head of the American Public Transportation Association, was one of the riders who got stuck on the train at the Othello station. Millar, who also rode the Link light rail shortly after it opened last year, said he made some suggestions to Earl and Metro’s General Manager Kevin Desmond about improving communication.

Transit riders “understand that stuff happens,” he said during a meeting with reporters, which I attended, last week. “They just want to understand what they should do next.”

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..